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As the level of study increases, the proportion of female UK-domiciled graduates falls, according to figures in Advancing Women in Mathematics: Good Practice in UK University Departments, published last month.

Meanwhile, male and female doctoral graduates appear equally likely to go on to contract research posts in UK universities, the report says, suggesting that a key challenge is to encourage more women to undertake doctorates after completing a first degree.

The data also show that at each level of university study in the UK, women make up a greater proportion of maths students that come from outside the EU than is the case for UK-domiciled women.

At doctoral level, around a third of graduates from outside the EU are female compared with just 19 per cent of UK-domiciled graduates. However, no such trend exists at higher academic levels.

Within UK higher education institutions, women of any nationality are significantly more likely than men to be teaching rather than research staff, the report adds. Women make up 38 per cent of teaching-only lecturer or senior lecturer roles, compared with just 21 per cent of roles at this level that involve research.